It’s not an insult, just a reality. If you think a surgeon, judge, university gender studies professor or marketing executive or the people sitting across the table at negotiations view you and I in their league, you’d be very wrong. They may say at get togethers, “wow, that must be a really cool job”, but in their paid off Porche #2 on their way home, they are telling their wife there is no way they would work for the scraps we do while being gone 15+ days from home and family.

A friend of mine grew up in a neighborhood in DEN full of doctors. They were none too impressed with their kids playing with the UA captain’s kid down the street. His Dad was a union member! Eeeeww.

Now I am not saying that we are not vastly under compensated for our skill set. ALPA has largely just become another branch of management and all of our contracts look like it compared to what the profession was back in 1990’s and previous. The math doesn’t lie. That coupled with we are not willing to walk away with our intellect and do something else to make better (lots) money. Maybe we aren’t all that smart.

I think Flying the Line should have been a mandatory read to get into good standing with ALPA /APA/SWAPA when first hired at a 121 carrier. Especially if you’ve only been doing this for 15 years or so.